MAXXHAUL 70238 Receiver Hitch Mounted Hydraulic Swivel Pickup Truck Crane - 1000 lbs. Capacity With 3 Boom Capacities of 500 lbs, 750 lbs and 1000 lbs.

The internet failed me, all these years of but pointless things and looking at stuff I don’t need and then this popped up. This is a must have for anyone who has a pickup truck or a lifted pickup. Amazon arrived and I said drop it right there because I needed for immediate use. Assembly was stupid easy 😃 I immediately used this to laid to generators one about 150 lbs and another in the 400 lbs range. No more using a board to slide things up or down when loading or unloading. There were many variations of this that were less exapensive but I chose this one because it seemed better made ie gusset supports and actual bearings to rotate on. As well the adjustable support legs.One modification I made was to use a long string to run from the back of the crane arm to where the hook and chain attach. Tie it off to the support on top. This will allow you to adjust the chain and hook without fumbling around trying to get the chain to line up with the hole for the pin to pass through it.

I have an engine hoist/crane in my shop. But I had several engines and other parts that I needed to move from one shop a few towns away to another. Taking my full-size engine hoist for that would have been a pain in the butt (I've done it before, so I know what a pain it is).So, I bought this Maxxhaul hitch-mounted crane. And it works pretty slick. I will say that it's way heavier than I expected ... but that can't really be avoided: it's lifting heavy stuff, so it has to be pretty heavy duty, itself. And, even when "broken down" for traveling, it's still a bunch of pieces. But it all goes together pretty quickly -- maybe takes me 2 minutes to set it all up on-site, and another 2 to take it apart when I'm done.One thing I learned quickly: plan on positioning the tail end of your truck right BESIDE the item that you need to lift. The crane doesn't have a long reach, so basically you're just going to pick up your engine or whatever, and swing it 180-degrees to set it down about 3 feet from where it was when you lifted it, into your truck bed. That seemed to be the most stable way to use it. Speaking of which ... make sure your truck is on pretty flat, solid, stable ground when you use this thing; if you're on a hill, it'll be tougher to swing your heavy item around ... or it'll quickly get away from you and might smash into your truck, damaging it.One last thing: it doesn't come with chains or straps to connect your heavy item to the crane. I had chains from my engine hoist, so used them. But if you don't have chains or straps already, plan on getting some with it. Some folks use serpentine belts to lift engine blocks and such, which probably would work fine with this, but I'm not sure whether those belts would lift an entire, fully-dressed engine safely.And it seems well-built. I'm amazed at how smooth and effortlessly the crane pivots on its bearings. Really nice action.Despite all that praise, I probably won't use this terribly often -- only when I'm delivering or picking up engines. But it's super helpful for that use-case, so I consider it a great addition to my "toolbox." If that's something you have a need for, it'd probably be a good addition to your toolbox, too.

This thing is well built for being made in China. It is heavy and needs two folks to move the package. It was not packaged well as when I got it, it had been repackaged at least twice. Everything was loose inside the multi-layer box with nuts and bolts scattered about. It arrived undamaged but missing some nuts, bolts, and washers which I supplied from my personal stash. There was no paperwork of any kind included and a set of instructions or pictures would really be helpful when putting it together. One person can assemble it but a helping hand is really needed. Once assembled, it is necessary to adjust it to fit your individual application. It did not work on my Polaris Ranger side by side as the hitch is too low to the ground. It did fit nicely on my 3/4 ton Ram truck but needed a lot of adjusting. It now works like a dream when loading my air compressor. I would recommend this tool for loading heavy bulky items by yourself but caution your expectations of the shipping ability. I live in Alaska and that may be why the shipping companies have so many problems shipping this but this is the second time I've experienced this problem and I don't think it was ever packaged properly at the factory.